FTC Fines Spokeo in First Internet Data Penalty

Most Internet users are probably familiar with Spokeo.com, a much maligned site for listing private personal data about people including addresses, names and phone numbers without users' permission. The FTC issued the first ever Internet data fine, penalizing Spokeo for $800,000. The charges not only include publishing the personal data about people, but false advertisement and violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by not validating the personal data they published was accurate. For more on this see [URL="http://mashable.com/2012/06/12/ftc-first-internet-data-fine/"]Mashable[/URL].